Great Lakes Fishery Commission
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 381539304
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Phone
- 7346623209
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Fisheries Resources
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $80,320,800
- Expenses
- $69,955,382
- Assets
- $99,393,941
- Liabilities
- $1,505,337
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Marc Gaden (Communications Program Director): $299,333 total reported compensation
- Stephen Domeracki (Director of Corporate Services): $281,381 total reported compensation
- John Dettmers (Fishery Management Program Director): $280,874 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is a binational organization established to control sea lamprey and promote a healthy, sustainable Great Lakes fishery ecosystem.
What it reported doing in 2024
Sea Lamprey Management Program - Great Lakes Fishery Commission contracts annually with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to conduct a program that eradicates or minimizes sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes. This is a current and long-term goal. Lampricides are chemicals used as the major means of controlling sea lamprey in the commission's ongoing program of sea lamprey management in the Great Lakes. These chemicals are purchased annually.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 85% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 69
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.9%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.42; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 92.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $64.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $299K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.